The ZOTAC GeForce GTS 450 ZONE Edition takes the award-winning GeForce GTS 450 graphics processor with 192 high-performance shaders and passively cools it using a ZOTAC-exclusive dual-slot fan-less cooling system that features copper heat-pipes and aluminum fins to keep the graphics processor cool while operating silently.

“ZOTAC listens to the demands of silent computing users and their needs for more graphics power, which is why we created the GeForce GTS 450 ZONE Edition,” said Carsten Berger, marketing director, ZOTAC International. “With the ZOTAC GeForce GTS 450 ZONE Edition we struck the perfect balance of 3D performance and energy-efficiency to eliminate the cooling fan, as well as the external power connector.”

Another nice product ruined.... It needs GDDR5 to perform! Why no manufacturers understand this? It's like the DDR2/GDDR3 9500GTs or GT220 or DDR3/GDDR5 GT240 there is a huge difference for almost no extra price.

Yes, actually it does need GDDR5. With only a 128-bit memory bus GDDR5 is needed to make the card perform, otherwise the card will be memory bandwidth starved. This is a card that with GDDR5 outperforms a GTS250, but now with DDR3 is has less memory bandwidth than a GTS250, and that means performance will be in the trash.

Someone really needs to tell Zotac that the GTX550Ti has existed for quite some time now.

It, you know, replaced the GTS450......

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haha go ahead but still, i think they need to save some developer money on the card since they made it from the ground up (except the core) so they mean they save some money for the buyers by putting DDR3/GDDR3 memory on a Core that was born with 1GB of GDDR5 support, that's just lame

Someone really needs to tell Zotac that the GTX550Ti has existed for quite some time now.

It, you know, replaced the GTS450......

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I'm pretty sure they are pin compatible, so once they run out of GTS450 cores, they just start slapping GTS550ti cores on it and call it a new card.

And if anyone has any doubts about this being the intention, just look at the top down shot where you can see through the heatsink. There are 2 solder pads with RAM missing, so the PCB was designed with a 192-bit bus in mind, if they truly were making the custom PCB for a GTS450, they wouldn't have put two extra solder pads for RAM modules on it, that is a waste.

And so this will play those "demanding stunning Dx11 titles"?... While what moron called a the GT104 "award-winning"? It was smack in the middle of 5750 and 5770, sucked more power, and was a almost a year late... that gets an award?

Wow, nice way to use up old stuff just make it a "gelding" and hope no one notices! While not using the power of say silent 6770's from Asus or Gigabyte that’s a good thing (no 6-pin). Although cutting back the Core Clock by 183Mhz, and memory to 1333Mhz of DDR3, it's probably well below the 6670's in performance... let hope in price also.

This card would be perfect for someone who is using their desktop as a DAW primarily as well.
As a silent PC is very important to stop any noise interference and reduce the chances of electrical noise coming through the recording.